That is increase expenses over what it would have been had the Democrats done nothing. We did not have to wait long for that. I will just stand back now and collect my fair share of the apologies from being attacked for saying what was true all along. Ok; my fair share is pretty small, but even if it was not I would not hold my breath waiting.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-04-22-health-care-costs_N.htm
"President Obama's health care overhaul law will increase the nation's health care tab instead of bringing costs down, government economic forecasters concluded Thursday in a sobering assessment of the sweeping legislation.
A report by economic experts at the Health and Human Services Department said the health care remake will achieve Obama's aim of expanding health insurance — adding 34 million Americans to the coverage rolls.
But the analysis also found that the law falls short of the president's twin goal of controlling runaway costs. It also warned that Medicare cuts may be unrealistic and unsustainable, driving about 15% of hospitals into the red and "possibly jeopardizing access" to care for seniors.
...
A separate Congressional Budget Office analysis, also released Thursday, estimated that 4 million households would be hit with tax penalties under the law for failing to get insurance.
The U.S. spends $2.5 trillion a year on health care, far more per person than any other developed nation, and for results that aren't clearly better when compared to more frugal countries. At the outset of the health care debate last year, Obama held out the hope that by bending the cost curve down, the U.S. could cover all its citizens for about what the nation would spend absent any reforms.
The report found that the president's law missed the mark, although not by much. The overhaul will increase national health care spending by $311 billion from 2010-2019, or nine-tenths of 1%. To put that in perspective, total health care spending during the decade is estimated to surpass $35 trillion."
Read more at http://hotair.com/archives/2010/04/23/surprise-obamacare-will-increase-expenses-says-medicare-actuary.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
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I read this in the National Review, I think Dan Foster called this report "devastaing". Since I know you understand healthcare policy about as well as the people at National Review and this is the kind of pseudo-smart right wing talking point you like to post about I figured in the next week or so after reading that it would show up on your blog. So coming from somone who would prefer to agree with you, sorry to burst your bubble, but your shared understanding of the report is wrong.
ReplyDeleteDon't take it from me though:
"The estimate isn't whether the Act will decrease the deficit. It's whether it will decrease overall medical spending. And it finds that it will increase total medical spending by just under one percent in 2019.
Third, keep in mind that the cost control elements of the law mostly take effect after 2019. They don't factor into the analysis not because the analysis discounts them but because the analysis doesn't attempt to measure them. Basically, over the next decade, the Affordable Care Act expands coverage, and offsets the cost with a mix of new taxes and spending reductions. It's not supposed to control costs over this time. The conclusion that it will provide coverage to some 30 million people who don't have it, while only expanding total spending by less than one percent, is what I'd call good news. That's what it's supposed to do."
http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/conservatives-seize-upon-fails-understand-health-report
If your upset about people being forced to buy private insurance, i agree that's an outrage- it's also the idea from the heritage foundation